One in five women in Australia don't trust men with their shared finances
* By Joe Hildebrand
* From: The Daily Telegraph
WHEN it comes to money one in five women do not trust men - but don't take my word for it.
A survey has found that 19 per cent of Australian women do not trust their partner with their shared finances.
And it might be for good reason too. Experts say men often keep financial secrets from their partners - as women do from men - and that the global financial crisis unearthed secret debts that drove many couples to the brink.
Interestingly, NSW women were more trusting. Only 15 per cent of those surveyed agreed with "do not totally trust partner with shared finances".
The Women and Money Survey of 1000, conducted by the Westpac Women's Markets unit, also found almost half (47 per cent) "believe that their partner wastes money" and, perhaps not surprisingly, the exact same number argue with their partner over money and are in charge of managing joint accounts.
Experts said part of the problem might be couples keeping financial secrets from each other. "When you have people hiding purchases or having separate bank accounts or essentially leading a double life or a secret life, you have major issues around trust," psychologist John Aiken said.
"The problem is a lot of people can't have those difficult conversations. There are also power issues that can come into it, where someone says 'I don't want to share what I've got, I want to keep it to myself'."
Relationships Australia NSW CEO Anne Hollonds said keeping financial secrets could lead a partner to think they did not know the person they were with at all.
"If one of you is keeping money from the other it's potentially a breach of trust," she said.
"The other partner thinks they're in a relationship with a certain type of person and find out the person has another lifestyle or other habits."
Ms Hollonds said the recent economic downturn brought a lot of secrets to the surface.
"The burden had to come to light and there were a lot of couples in conflict who wouldn't have made it and for others it was a tipping point," she said.
Small business owner Jacqueline Arias said the changes she and her partner Chris made to the way they handled their finances resulted in them no longer arguing about money.
"There used to be lots of conflict between us when shared our household money and responsibilities but now he takes care of the household expenses by himself and I am responsible for business costs," she said.
* By Joe Hildebrand
* From: The Daily Telegraph
WHEN it comes to money one in five women do not trust men - but don't take my word for it.
A survey has found that 19 per cent of Australian women do not trust their partner with their shared finances.
And it might be for good reason too. Experts say men often keep financial secrets from their partners - as women do from men - and that the global financial crisis unearthed secret debts that drove many couples to the brink.
Interestingly, NSW women were more trusting. Only 15 per cent of those surveyed agreed with "do not totally trust partner with shared finances".
The Women and Money Survey of 1000, conducted by the Westpac Women's Markets unit, also found almost half (47 per cent) "believe that their partner wastes money" and, perhaps not surprisingly, the exact same number argue with their partner over money and are in charge of managing joint accounts.
Experts said part of the problem might be couples keeping financial secrets from each other. "When you have people hiding purchases or having separate bank accounts or essentially leading a double life or a secret life, you have major issues around trust," psychologist John Aiken said.
"The problem is a lot of people can't have those difficult conversations. There are also power issues that can come into it, where someone says 'I don't want to share what I've got, I want to keep it to myself'."
Relationships Australia NSW CEO Anne Hollonds said keeping financial secrets could lead a partner to think they did not know the person they were with at all.
"If one of you is keeping money from the other it's potentially a breach of trust," she said.
"The other partner thinks they're in a relationship with a certain type of person and find out the person has another lifestyle or other habits."
Ms Hollonds said the recent economic downturn brought a lot of secrets to the surface.
"The burden had to come to light and there were a lot of couples in conflict who wouldn't have made it and for others it was a tipping point," she said.
Small business owner Jacqueline Arias said the changes she and her partner Chris made to the way they handled their finances resulted in them no longer arguing about money.
"There used to be lots of conflict between us when shared our household money and responsibilities but now he takes care of the household expenses by himself and I am responsible for business costs," she said.
